Originally posted by xxxkat Man,Rc that sucks,I'm still using the same tires I had 6 mo. ago,I have not broken anything in over a year,I do buy new motors and batterys..alot..well cars to.I used to run off road but at the tracks I was racing at it just cost to much money to be competitive,I was going through the same spending,tires is what made me switch to on road,1 set every weekend(rears)x 2 cars = way to much money,I do and can win at my local track with a small budget,$ 50 per week,2 classes + gas & food.I have a different budget for cars and parts.. It's a little bigger..but not by much

Yup, it does suck. For the broken parts, its not becuase i am a bad driver, its because my local track is made out of pvc, and there are some huge ass couplers that stick out about .5 inches that like to tear your car apart.

You can't get anywhere without talent and a shat load of practice. A skilled driver will always triumph over a driver of lesser skill and slightly better equipment. If you can't finish a race without hitting anything(including other cars) you should focus on gaining driving skill instead of the battery wars. Just my take.

Hand-out motors are a good idea, however, earlier somebody posted that a track charged $25 a race??? That's a bit much.... with a little thought I can easily get the cost way down....

Start with a very good spec motor.... The Tamiya/Mabuchi 540.... they can be bought for $15.... number each one and hold a "lottery" for your motor before the first heat... Make the "season" 10 weeks with 2 throw-out weeks and make it a points series. at the end the top 3 drivers get a small reward and their choice of 1 motor..... and all you have to do is charge $2 more per race.....

With the mabuchi you don't have to limit batteries, and you can choose a set of spec tires for everyone to use..... and a set of tires should last for the entire 10 race season......

Oh and for each "season" make it a different body "class".... season 1 is trans-am, season 2 european exotics, 3 Japanese tuner cars.....ect....

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G's RC Raceway- Best off-road track on the east coast...period!!!

I dont like spec racing,IMHO its a huge waist of money,Racing is not fair it will never be fair,if you suck as a driver all the "equal" in the world wont help.Problem with the spec. tire rule is If I wanted to I could run a new set every race(I have seen this happen..and not by me.. )I do think that most spec. classes start out in the right direction but some how end up costing more than running stock 27 class..

Some ppl like "spec" racing (whether its something invented by
one manufacturer, or something ruled up by a club eg 540), others racers don't 'cos of the restrictions.

The more-restricted "branded" Spec race series often work out
more expensive than something more generic, like "540 novice"
where we handicap 'better' cars by lower gearing.

I race to go as Fast as i can afford, not go slow as the lowest common denominator. That's what Mod class is there for... and cost usually prohibits the novices who can't drive from creating havoc amongst the mod front-runners.

Face it, top-class RC racing will become cheap only when Formula One costs less than running the family grocery-getter.

Actually, spec tires are not that big a deal, as long as the race organizers do it right. At the Novak US TC Champs, for example, they ue the Take-Off CS-27 premounts as the spec tire for rubber-tire classes, but they do NOT let racers buy all they want. You get one set with your entry, & then you can buy additional sets up to a maximum(which I believe was 2 additional sets) for practice & qualifying, & then if you make the A-Main, you can buy a couple more sets I think. But in all honesty, you don't even need them all there, as those tires hardly wear at all & their performance does NOT drop off, even after a couple of DOZEN runs(I know I used 3 pairs of them all that weekend myself, & that was mostly because I wanted to try using some glue on the fronts' contact patch to reduce their grip a bit & take away some steering from my car, was fighting some traction rolling quite a bit). But I know that on some of the more abrasive surfaces it won't work quite like that. However, as long as a maximum number of sets you can buy or use is set up, I don't see a problem....

The main reason I've seen for spec racing failure at a local level (no matter which brand that "spec" class is tapping into) is that people can't blame their gear for their crappy performance. When you run mod, it's easier to say "oh yeah, I dodn't win because I don't have the latest batts/brushes/G37magnets/insert_name_here.

You know it, we hate to admit we're lame drivers. It's much less humiliating to say it's our stuff's fault.

I'm talking local level here. I'm aware that at the national level, spec racing is just as gear-intensive as mod.

Later,
Paul

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When the flag drops, the BS stops.

The train stops at the train station. The bus stops at the bus station. In my office I have a workstation.

In all my years, I can't tell you the number of racers who tell me that the reason they didn't win was because of their equipment.
Then, when you watch them race, they bang off of every board and can't find the apex of a corner if you point it out to them. It's so much easier to blame the equipment than it is to blame your own driving.

It is amazing how much speed you can gain from a car just by modifying the setup or your approach at driving. People tell me that they don't have a good enough battery or motor because someone pulls 5 feet on them down the straight, then I try to point out that they scrubbed off a ton of speed in the corner entering the straight and they don't believe me.

Very small adjustments on our cars can make HUGE differences in their handling. This can then translate into gains in speed. Spend your time learning your car and how each adjustment affects the car. That is the best tool you can have in your box.

But, at some level, money does come into play. And spending more can improve your speed, to a point. At the largest events, there are MANY drivers at each skill level. If you can get a small advantage over them, you can improve your finishing position by several spots. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to do this for normal club racing. That is why you see many drivers spending a lot of money on batteries and tires for national level events and then using that equipment for the rest of their club season.

Originally posted by gotpez In all my years, I can't tell you the number of racers who tell me that the reason they didn't win was because of their equipment.
Then, when you watch them race, they bang off of every board and can't find the apex of a corner if you point it out to them. It's so much easier to blame the equipment than it is to blame your own driving.

It is amazing how much speed you can gain from a car just by modifying the setup or your approach at driving. People tell me that they don't have a good enough battery or motor because someone pulls 5 feet on them down the straight, then I try to point out that they scrubbed off a ton of speed in the corner entering the straight and they don't believe me.

Very small adjustments on our cars can make HUGE differences in their handling. This can then translate into gains in speed. Spend your time learning your car and how each adjustment affects the car. That is the best tool you can have in your box.

But, at some level, money does come into play. And spending more can improve your speed, to a point. At the largest events, there are MANY drivers at each skill level. If you can get a small advantage over them, you can improve your finishing position by several spots. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to do this for normal club racing. That is why you see many drivers spending a lot of money on batteries and tires for national level events and then using that equipment for the rest of their club season.